Edgefield Howards

Edgefield Howards

I recently began to search using some records left by a late Aunt. In the records , she states the family bible came with our family from Edgefield, SC.Our records start with the immagrant, John Howard, who arrived in 1635 from England. He settled in Duxbury, Mass. He then moved to and was an orginal settler at West Bridgewater, Mass. He married Martha Hayward, daughter of Capt. Thomas Hayward.They had two children that we know of, Ephraim,and Jonathan.Ephraim can be found in NC in 1790,and his son Seth, was in Charleston SC in 1770.Seth was born 3-3-1746, and died 6-6-1810 in old district 96[which includes Edgefield]. He married Adra Narcissa Collins, they had four children, Seth Jr., Enos, Hiram, and Jared.I have a little more, and I hope I given you something you can use.

Edgefield Howards (Seth)

Susan, I find the material left by your aunt to be very misleading. As a descendant of Seth Howard I fear others will be confused by your claim to know his parentage. I have never seen any researched proof to his ancestors. It seems to me he just popped up as a grown man on the Trent River in NC in 1765.

I'd like to point out several things for consideration.

1) There is no Ephraim Howard in NC censuses of 1784-87(state census), 1790, or 1800. There is no Ephraim Howard in 1790 census of VA, SC., or PA. There is one in MD (Frederick County) He appears to be son of Henry Howard that died in 1773 in Ann Arundel Co. MD.

2) I have read the wills and estate papers of all Howards in Craven County NC prior to 1800. There is absolutely no clue to Seth's parents there. Also, there is no mention of an Ephraim.

3) Seth Howard was in Craven County, NC in 1770 and in Edgefield County, SC in 1777 as evidenced by the following deeds (my abstraction).

Indenture ----- "January 1770 between Seth Howard of Craven County, planter and John Kinsey, planter, 16 pounds for one piece of land containing by estimation one hundred acres, it being part of the land patented by Robert Orme lying on south side of Trent River on head of Island Creek. Witnesses: Dorothy Howard and John Granade, deed recorded June 1770." This was a tract of land Seth and a Elizabeth Maner had been given for love and good will by Robert Orme on 11 November 1765.

4) Per a DAR application Seth married on Dec. 2, 1770. His wife was Adrah Naricissa Collins who was daughter of Samuel Collins. I have deeds placing Samuel Collins on the Trent River, Craven County NC in 1770. His daughter would have been with him there. Samuel Collins left for Lincoln County NC shortly after that time. It appears that Seth Howard also migrated to Edgefield, SC in the early 1770s

5) Seth died in Pendleton District, SC (present day Anderson County) in 1816/17. He didn't die in Edgefield in 1810. He simply left Edgefield about 1810/1811.

On February 13, 1813 "Seth Howard of Pendleton, South Carolina in consideration of one hundred and twelve dollars to me paid by my son Hiram Howard of said state and district all that tract containing one hundred and twenty five aces, it being a part of a tract of 250 acres."

Also, in 1813: Seth Howard, Sr. of Pendleton District sold to Seth Howard, Jr. 25 acres on Wilsons Creek on Rocky River part of a tract he had purchased from Samuel Rowan. Witnesses: Hiram Howard, Jerimiah Morgan, John S. Young, John Butler. Dated 20 Mary 1813. Recorded 25, Oct. 1813 in Anderson County.

Seth's estate was administered by his son Hiram Howard and filed in Jan. 1818 in Pendleton District, bondsmen were Hiram Howard, William McPherson, and Francis Herring. There was a substantial inventory with many livestock and tools. There also is listed a large Bible -I wish we knew where that is today.

6) Your dates for that John Howard in Mass. seem very strange. If he was a grown man in 1635, then it's about impossible he had a son (Ephraim) alive in 1790.

7) There is an excellent book available that contains substantial research on this Howard Family. It is HOWARD - WRIGHT AND ALLIED FAMILIES (Bates, Burch, Childers, Clardy, Collins, Cox, Cunningham, DuBose, Fitzgerald, Green, Guinn, Gunter, Hall, Honeycutt, Howard, Mock, Newell, Niblett, Pate, Perkins, Pritchett, Sharp, Sherman, Sturgeon, Swan, Taylor, Trent, Turpin, Wright). This book by Marilee Howard Cory is firmly established in good research and I think any Howard descendant should consult it because of the primary research material that is included.

Feel free to contact me with any questions. I would truly like a clue to Seth's parents.Beverly Dean Peoples

Seth Howardof Edgefield SC

Cordie and Beverly: Cordie, please read and analyze the information set forth by Beverly and also in the book HOWARD-WRIGHT and ALLIED FAMILIES on Seth Howard of Edgefield, S.C. Irrefutable proof by documentation with court records, bible records, census records, etc. provide enough evidence that Seth Howard was NOT a son of your John Howard of Massachusetts. Also, by close scrutiny of your information of John of Mass. indicates that John Howard was in America by ca 1635 and an adult. He could have aged from 21 and up. He was probably married around this time, 1635, and started a family. John's children would therefore be of marriage age in 20 to 30 years, ca 1655-1665. You state that Ephraim and Jonathan were his children: hence they must have been born in the 1635 time period, either before and probably after. Their children would have been born in the middle to late 1600's. It is most improbable that a man born in 1746 (Seth Howard) would be either Ephraim or Jonathan's child. I have researched, as has Beverly, both Ephraim and Jonathan finding nothing on them in either SC or NC. We did not find a Seth Howard in Charleston, SC in 1770. Our Seth Howard was without a doubt in Craven Co., NC in 1770.

Cordie, I understand your position on your research but unless you send Beverly and I copies of your documents citing your sources for them we cannot agree with you as regards to Ephraim Howard being the father of Seth Howard, and in turn Ephraim Howard being the son of JOhn Howard. I would like to SEE your proof and know that there are documents supporting your suppositions. Family tradition is not acceptable as proof, there must be copies of original documents and bible records.

There is nothing we would like more than to find the parents of Seth Howard of Edgefield,SC and Craven Co., NC but we must have complete documentation leaving no doubt of the relationship.

Seth Howard of Edgefield

Susan, I find the material left by your aunt to be very misleading. As a descendant of Seth Howard I fear others will be confused by your claim to know his parentage. I have never seen any researched proof to his ancestors. It seems to me he just popped up as a grown man on the Trent River in NC in 1765.

I'd like to point out several things for consideration.

1) There is no Ephraim Howard in NC censuses of 1784, 1787(state census), 1790 or 1800. There is no Ephraim Howard in 1790 census of VA, SC, or PA. There is one in MD (Frederick County). He appears to be son of Henry Howard that died in 1773 in Ann Arundel Co., MD.

2) I have read the wills and estate papers of all Howards in Craven County NC prior to 1800. There is absolutely no clue to Seth's parents there. Also, there is no mention of an Ephraim.

3) Seth was not in Charleston as you suggest. Seth Howard was in Craven County, NC in 1770 and in Edgefield County SC in 1777 as evidenced by the following deeds (my abstraction).--Indenture, January 1770 between Seth Howard of Craven County, planter and John Kinsey, planter, 16 pounds for one piece of land containing by estimation one hundred acres, it being part of the land patented by Robert Orme lying on south side of Trent River on head of Island Creek. Witnesses: Dorothy Howard and John Granade, deed recorded June 1770..........(this was a tract of land that Seth and an Elizabeth Maner had been given for love and good will by Robert Orme on 11, Nov. 1765).

4) Per a DAR application Seth married on Dec. 2, 1770. His wife was Adrah Narcissa Collins who was daughter of Samuel Collins(and Amey his wife). I have deeds placing Samuel Collins on the Trent River, Craven County NC in 1770. His daugher would have been with him there. Samuel Collins left for Lincoln County, NC shortly after that time. It appears that Seth Howard also migrated to Edgefield, SC in the early 1770's.

5) Seth died in Pendleton District, SC (present day Anderson County) in 1816/17. He didn't die in Edgefield in 1810 as you say. He simply left Edgefield about that time.----On Feb. 13, 1813, Seth Howard of Pendleton, SC in consideration of one hundred and twelve dollars to me paid by my son Hiram Howard of said state and district all that tract containing one hundred and twenty five acres, it being a part of a tract of 25 acres.

----Also in 1813: Seth Howard, Sr. of Pendleton District sold to Seth Howard, Jr. 25 acres on Wilsons Creek on Rocky River part of a tract he had purchased from Samuel Rowan. Witnesses: Hiram Howard, Jerimiah Morgan, John S. Young, John Butler. Dated 20 May 1813. Recorded 25, Oct. 1813 in Anderson County.

--Seth's estate was administered by his son Hiram Howard and filed in Jan. 1818 in Pendleton District, bondsmen were Hiram Howard, William McPherson, and Francis Herring. There was a substantial inventory with many livestock and tools. There also is listed a large Bible - I wish we knew where that is today.

6) Your dates for that John Howard in Mass. seem very strange. If he was a grown man in 1635, then it's about impossible he had a son (Ephraim) alive in 1790.

7) There is an excellent book availabe that contains substantial researach on the Howard family. It is HOWARD - WRIGHT AND ALLIED FAMILIES (Bates, Burch, Childers, Clardy, Collins, Cox, Cunningham, DuBose, Fitzgerald, Green, Guinn, Gunter, Hall, Honeycutt, Howard, Mock, Newell, Niblett, Pate, Perkins, Pritchett, Sharp, Sherman, Sturgeon, Swan, Taylor, Trent, Turpin, Wright). This book by Marilee Howard Cory is firmly established in good research and I think any Howard decendant should consult it when considering this and other Howard families. It is based on primary research material.

Feel free to contact me with any questions. I would truly like a solid clue to Seth's parents.Beverly Dean Peoples

Edgefield Howards

Susan, I realize this is an old message, Jan. 2001, that is posted, was lost in the rescheduling by RootsWeb then reposted. However, the information is erroneous regarding the parentage of Seth Howard. You have purchased my book, HOWARD-WRIGHT and ALLIED FAMILIES, and the research is very well documented, quite definitely establishing that the parentage of Seth Howard of Craven Co., NC and Edgefield Co., SC has NEVER BEEN DISCOVERED.

Perhaps you have not analyzed your material on John Howard, the immigrant, of Mass. He was an adult in 1635 when he arrived in Duxbury, Mass. Had he not been an adult he would not have been mentioned in the records. So he must have been at least 21 years of age in 1635, probably older by five or more years. Date of marriage was not mentioned but the usual age for marriage for a man was about 25. Martha and John Howard had two children, Ephraim and Jonathan, who were most likely born before 1650.

Ephraim, if born around 1650 would be almost 150 years old in 1790, if he were enumerated in the 1790 census of NC. This suggested age would also make it highly unlikely, if not impossible, for him to have fathered Seth Howard in 1746.

You state Seth Howard was in Charleston, SC in 1770. He has been definitely establised in Craven Co., NC in 1770. See Beverly Peoples response.

Do you have documentary proof of your statements besides just some material you found in your aunt's papers? Until I see a snail mail copy of the supposed bible record and any other document proving Ephraim Howard was the father of Seth, proof of the 1790 presence of Ephraim in NC, proof that Seth Howard was in Charleston, SC in 1770 and this Seth Howard was the same Seth Howard inEdgefield, SC and any other proof you may have to back up your statements I cannot agree with your hypothesis of the Seth Howard parentage.

Marilee Howard Cory

Re: Edgefield Howards

Marilee, May I assume you live in Edgefield County, as I do?I live just outside of Johnston,and I am trying to find my gggrandfather's father in local records.He was Henry Howard,b.May,1811,and livedin the Edisto Mills District in 1850 with his wife,harriett Bush,alongside James A.Howard,b.ca.1810 and his wife,Vicey Bush(Harriett's cousin),Sidney Morris,who also married a Bush daughter,and William Howard,b.ca.1820,a blacksmith. By 1870,Henry and his son James Bush Howard had homes in theBeech Island area, and were also overseersfor Gov.Henry Hammond of Redcliffe. I have a feeling Henry, James A.,and William were grandsonsof Seth Howard,but there is also the possibility they descend from John Howard who married Margaret Fudge,daughter of Jacob Fudge,who had received a land grant in the LittleHorse Creek Valley area of present-day Aiken Co.As I am sure you know, this is the Beech Island area vicinity. A noteof interest:in your deed records, I believe you will find that Jacob Fudge is documented as having lands boundedby those of Seth Howard or his son Enos. So I guess I have three questions;the second being-Who is John Howard who married Margaret Fudge? And the third-Who is William Henry Howard who hired two negroes fromCapt.Thomas Key on 8/14/1794,as recorded in Edgefield Deed Book #12--possibly William, Henry, and James A.'s father? Any ideas?Your research seems to be so very thorough, I feel sure you will know. Thanks in advance, Gloria

Re: Edgefield Howards

My earliest proven Howard ancestor is Michael Howard of Edgefield District. Michael was born c 1793 in South Carolina and married Temperance Watson c 1821. Temperance was the daughter of Richmond Watson.

Do you have any record of Michael Howard in your book or know who his parents were??Thank youGaila

Re: Edgefield Howards

Gaila, I have no idea who Michael Howard was, there is no record of a Michael being associated with my Edgefield Howards. That does not mean he was not from the Seth Howard family, just that I don't have complete records on some of the children of Seth. Michael was of an age to have been a grandson of Seth. Have you checked out the John Howard family? This John Howard married Margaret Fudge. Also there was a Samuel Howard of an age to be the father of Michael. Good Luck and sorry to be of no help to you. Marilee